Plans for Improving London. 141 



" I am aware of the great interests which would be inter- 

 fered with by the construction of this bridge ; I am aware of 

 the large sum of money which would be required, although I 

 believe that the cost is exaggerated in the minds of most ; but 

 whatever the interests may be, and whatever the cost may be, 

 sooner or later a bridge or a tunnel must be built lower down 

 the river. Nothing else will effectually relieve London Bridge 

 at the present day, and nothing else will satisfy the require- 

 ments of the vast population which will exist east of London 

 Bridge ; and it is to be hoped that this necessity will be boldly 

 faced at once, and not be postponed until the period when it 

 will cost double the outlay now needed, however great that 

 outlay may be." 



This is followed up by some very sensible remarks as to the 

 width of streets and bridges, showing clearly that the author 

 of the report is not led away by projects of grandeur or mag- 

 nificence, but that the useful is what he has always in view. 

 The following is the extract from the report to which we allude : 

 — " It is, however, fundamentally an error to make streets and 

 bridges of very great width ; large streets are more costly • 

 they are also in one respect inconvenient ; they lead to concen- 

 tration of traffic, and if stopped or impeded (as at times they 

 must be) the public inconvenience is very great. Diffusion, 

 and not concentration of traffic should be the object in devising 

 the thoroughfares of large towns. Alternative lines give the 

 most convenience ; and, as a principle, it may be said that it 

 is far better to have two bridges, each of fifty feet in width, 

 than one of 100 feet in width, even if the cost were greater for 

 the two than the one." 



Our space will not permit us to cull any more of the wise 

 saws and interesting statements abounding in this able report. 

 We cannot, however, conclude without a view of the map in 

 which Mr. Haywood lays dows a projected new street leading 

 from the east end of the Holborn viaduct to a point in White- 

 chapel, High Street, where the Metropolitan Board of Works 

 propose a continuation of it to the Docks. This fine line of 

 thoroughfare takes a gentle curve to the northward ; it passes 

 close in the rear of Christ's Hospital and crosses Aldersgate 

 Street, Wood Street, Aldermanbury, Coleman Street, and 

 Moorgate Street, Broad Street, and Bishopsgate Street, and 

 debouches at Whitechapel, as above shown. This would 

 afford an immense relief to the traffic of Newgate Street, 

 Cheapside, the Poultry, Cornhill, Leadenhall Street, and 

 Aldgate. 



The curved line of the street is so gentle that it will 

 scarcely be perceived in so long a distance ; indeed, in some 

 cases, such as the High Street, Oxford, curved lines are more 



